ROTHKO: DARK PALETTE

Beginning November 4th, 2016, and running through January 7th of the new year, Pace Gallery presents Rothko: Dark Palette, a special exhibition of Mark Rothko’s work, tracing the evolution of the artist’s use of dark colors in his sectional paintings, from an untitled 1955 piece through his later works in the 1960s. The exhibition proposes that what may seem like a reflection of the artist’s own inner turmoil was perhaps more of a study on the theme of tragedy in art.

On the subject, his daughter Kate Rothko-Prizel shares in HUMANITY Issue No. 9, “It was very hard for me to separate the increasing darkness of his paintings from his mood. It took me quite a number of years after his death to understand that those dark pictures were really about him taking his work in a new and, if you will, higher direction, rather than being a reflection of something personal in his life.”

Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher, who has represented the artist’s work since 1978, offers further insight: “On several occasions, Mark spoke of the importance of tragedy and tragic themes as stimuli for the creation of profound beauty. Rothko considered tragedy a theme worthy of art. He cited Greek theater and the way it dealt with the depth of human emotions and universal truths.”

Get a preview of some of the featured works here, and see the monumental paintings now on display at Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location in New York.

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